Movie News

Watch Aubrey Plaza Haunt Michael Cera in 'Failure' Short Film

By:
Caroline Bologna

Jun 19, 2013 | 1:28pm EDT

Fresh off his return to Arrested Development and his epic cameo in This Is the End, Michael Cera is trying his hand at directing. The Canadian actor has just released Failure, a 4-minute short film available on YouTube. And boy is it strange.

In Failure, Cera reunites with his Scott Pilgrim vs. the World costar Aubrey Plaza, who certainly has a knack for playing eccentric characters. Cera plays an unnamed man who discovers a mysterious woman in his house (Plaza). She gives off a quite a few stalkerish vibes, telling the man that she just "wanted to meet" him. From the dark lighting to the jarring camera angles, the whole scene is rather unsettling, as the woman puts on a variety of accents and slowly moves up a staircase to make her way toward him. In the end, amidst all the confusion and creepiness, there's a hint of comic relief (and possibly romance?).

This is actually not the first time Cera has given directing a try, nor is it his first experience with a short film. Failure is actually the latest in a string of projects from JASH, a YouTube comedy channel that Cera created along with Tim & Eric, Sarah Silverman, Reggie Watts, and late night producer Daniel Kellison. So far, Cera has starred in the 17-minute short "Gregory Go Boom" and 20-minute "Brazzaville Teen-Anger". The latter was also his directorial debut.

Failure is admittedly, umm, creepy and weird, but it is also thought-provoking and ultimately a tad humorous. The credits reveal that Cera contributed the guitar music to the film as well. We may not completely understand Failure, but we're certainly looking forward to Michael Cera's future work with JASH.